Neighboring countries and territories:
The countries and territories neighboring each country. "L" means they share only a land border and "M" means they have only maritime boundaries. A blank means they share both.

Number of maritime boundary neighbours:
Number of states and territories with which each country shares a maritime border. Two countries separated from each other by a body of water have a maritime border with each other.

Overview:
A geopolitical overview of every sovereign country in the world, briefly examining their recent history and place on the global stage. The texts are taken from the BBC News website.

El Salvador, which is Spanish for "the saviour" - or Jesus Christ - has been wracked by civil war and a succession of natural disasters.

The tiny country is the most densely-populated state on the mainland of the Americas and is highly industrialised. But social inequality and a susceptibility to earthquakes have shaped much of modern El Salvador.

In the 1980s El Salvador was ravaged by a bitter civil war. This was stoked by gross inequality between a small and wealthy elite, which dominated the government and the economy, and the overwhelming majority of the population, many of whom lived - and continue to live - in abject squalor.